One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant four o' clock is to look at the USDA zone info for Clearwater.

Planting Calendar for Four O' Clock

Frost tolerance for four o' clock:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

You really shouldn't plant four o' clock until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant four o' clock in Clearwater is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant four o' clock and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your four o' clock may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your four o' clock indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on January 31 in Clearwater. You can expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Clearwater is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Clearwater you get a frost after January 31 be ready to protect your four o' clock in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Clearwater

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Clearwater

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Clearwater.